Automatic Journal Box Oilers

[NW Mailing List]

Could someone point me to an explanation of how these "automatic journal 
box oilers" worked?  I am not familiar with such a device.

Brian Gilleran
Herndon, VA

Brian,

Norfolk and Western's automatic journal box oilers were designed by 
Motive Power Department personnel and built in Roanoke's East End Shops. 
Oilers were constructed for the humps at both Roanoke (Shaffers) and 
Bellevue, OH. They were installed in the 1970's when friction-bearings 
were being replaced by roller-bearings.

They were track-side, mobile, hydraulic machines that injected a fixed 
amount of lubricating oil into friction-bearing journal boxes as the 
cars were being moved up the hump and right before they were cut at the 
summit for classification. The oilers first detected whether a car had 
friction or roller bearings by optically reading a slight dimensional 
difference in the truck frames of the two types. If a friction-bearing 
car was detected, the oiler moved to catch the car, made contact with 
the back edge of truck side frame, and then continued moving at the same 
speed as the car. After the machine established the same travel speed as 
the car, two oiler arms were activated to stand upright from a flat 
position until directly underneath the journal box lid. At the end of 
each of these arms was a wedge shaped head that was then extended 6-8 
inches to lift the journal box lid, but not enough lift to cause the lid 
to open completely. Lubrication oil was then injected into the journal 
box while the oiler heads were under the slightly opened lids. The heads 
would then quickly retract downward allowing the lids to close, the 
oiler arms would fold back down flat, and the machine's carriage would 
return against the train's direction of travel to the home position. The 
entire operation for one truck took approximately 15 seconds.

These oilers operated in an extremely harsh, dirty environment. 
Obviously there was no room for machine error when in contact with a 
moving train. Also, proper train speed was critical for successful 
operation. Needles to say, this was a dangerous, dirty, weather-exposed 
job when done manually by two employees.

John Garner, Newport VA